'yeah, 5 is cool even though not as good as the other 4. it's pretty hilarious that no one ever mentions their debut which is not bad either"

the funny thing is that among real fans of The National, Sad Songs is seen as maybe their best album. the only people that underrate it are anonymous sputnik users, but there are a lot of you. and the debut is ok but like

I'd say Sad Songs is The National at their deepest + darkest, but whether it's the best is definitely down to the individual. It's definitely a lot less accessible than the more recent 4. The self titled is good too, just unrefined really.

The National = hi, we're new here. I like going out and loving lots of different people up for a night
each.
Sad Songs = EVERYTHING WAS GOING SO RIGHT AND NOW IT'S GOING SO WRONG
Alligator = I've settled and found a girl let's love her up
Boxer = I'm getting paranoid and all the demons are coming back
High Violet = They're back!
Trouble Will Find Me = still here but now I'm more apathetic.

That's fair. I guess I'm just seeing it in the incredibly confused clusterfuck of cohesion that is Sad Songs, which pushed me towards seeing it in a very positive/ innocent light (bar a few songs which don't fit into my hypothesis at all, but then again an album is never a fixed moment in time).